You are here

Current Students and Alumni Form New A Cappella Group

This summer, current and graduate members of the CJ a cappella group, Vega, harmonized again as part of a new a cappella group, Lyra. The group came together for the Midwest Semifinal of the International Championship of A Cappella Open.

"Varsity Vocals, the company that puts on the competition that Vega and Phoenix compete in, announced at the end of last year that they were planning on hosting an open competition that anyone could enter," explained Lyra member and director of Phoenix, Maddie Brown '13. "Any group from new to professional could enter and there would be no age restrictions. A few alumni decided to put together a group of CJ students and alumni who are or have been members of Vega."

"Most of us were in town for the summer, but we only had one day of rehearsal with everyone in the group," Brown shared. "Through the summer, we did the most work we possibly could with those available. We Skyped the others and sent notes and recordings to those who weren't in town to keep everyone on the same page."

The group received a third place rating in the competition.

When coming up with the group name, Brown said, "Lyra is the constellation in which the star Vega is found. This group is made up of six generations of Vega members. We went into the competition with no expectations other than to have a great time together pursuing our passion of a cappella. Receiving a third place rating completely blew us away. We are so happy that all of the hard work and emotion we put into our set came through to the judges and audience.

"We would love to perform locally as long as we have enough people to make it work," Brown continued. "It would be great to participate in this competition again next year. The outcome we received really validated all of the hard work we put into the group."